Father's Day
by Bimadabomi
Summary: A series of Father's Days in Luke's life.
1. 2005: Luke and William

**Father's Day**

Okay, so I somehow got this idea from watching "Those Are The Strings, Pinocchio" and I'm not sure why. I think it comes from the next part, it inspired that one and then I got the whole idea. This is a series (four parts) of Father's Days in Luke's life. Each one is a little vignette, a little scene from that Father's Day. There's an emphasis on Luke and whoever, but Lorelai also appears in all of them. Wanted to get this out of my head before finals begin, and once summer starts I want to do a little post finale stuff, but I'm not sure where exactly I'm going with that yet, so I did this for now. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of them, unfortunately****

**2005**

Lorelai was sitting at the kitchen table, flipping through a magazine when Luke knocked on her back door. She knew it was him, as he had been in the garage working on the boat. She rolled her eyes and sighed, going over to the door.

"You don't need to knock," she reminded him as she pulled the door open. She waved her left hand at him. "See? Engaged. You're allowed to just walk in now. In fact, you were allowed to just walk in before. I seriously hope you still won't be knocking on our door when we're married…"

"Come here," he said, taking her hand that was still in the air and pulling her out the door.

"What?" she asked as she let him lead her out to the garage. He stopped in front of the garage and gestured to the boat.

She looked at it for a moment then looked at him. "It's finished," she guessed, but mostly stated.

He nodded. "It's finished," he told her.

She looked at the boat for a moment, stepping inside the garage a few more feet and he matched her steps. "It looks great, Luke. You did a great job."

He shrugged. "Thanks."

"Your father would be proud of it," she said quietly.

He shrugged. "Either that or he would tell me I was a fool for wasting all my time finishing it."

She laughed and looked at him. "It really does look great."

"Well, it's a wonder what you can do when the boating supply place actually has the supplies."

She laughed. "Imagine that."

"Thanks."

She looked at him curiously. "For what?"

"You know," he said, gesturing towards the boat.

She frowned, still not getting it. "Thanks for the boat?" she asked, confused. Suddenly, it hit her what he was trying to say. "Oh," she said softly. "Thanks for the boat," she repeated, with realization. "You're welcome," she said.

"It's just that... now that it's finished, I'm glad I finally got up the nerve to touch it and work on it. And then I realize that before I got around to working on it, I had requested to have it trashed, well, I'm just glad that _someone_ didn't let that happen."

"I'm glad you feel that way," she said. "I mean, after your initial reaction, I was afraid I'd really done the wrong thing."

"You didn't," he assured her. "You know me well enough to know I would regret getting rid of the boat someday. And you're right, I would have."

She smiled. "Hey, if I don't know you by now it ain't gonna happen. Just took me a while to get you down to a science since you try and keep your true personality hidden from the world."

"I never thought this boat would become anything," he stated. "I thought it would just sit unfinished until the end of time. Until someone finally decided to trash it."

"Like you?" she teased.

"My dad stopped working on it when my mom died," he stated. Lorelai looked at him in surprise. This was one of those hardly ever ventured into areas-- his parents.

"So it's sat unfinished since you were eight," Lorelai stated. "I mean, until you started working on it."

He nodded. "Yeah. And I just never thought about touching it, because it seemed wrong somehow." She nodded in understanding. "But then something just propelled me to finish it. Like it would somehow be honoring _both_ my parents if I finished it."

She smiled. "You know what today is?" she asked softly.

He frowned. "No… what?"

"It's Father's Day," she told him quietly. "You didn't know that?"

He shrugged. "Didn't cross my mind. I'm not a father, I don't have a father, so…"

She smiled. "I think your dad is enjoying his gift. After all these years, to see the boat finished."

He smiled a little. "Yeah," he said softly. She put her arm around his waist and smiled.

"He'd be proud of you."

"For the boat?"

"Well, yeah. But for everything."

Luke scoffed. "Nah, I haven't done anything special."

"Oh, don't be modest. You're an amazing guy. He'd be so proud of the man you turned out to be. Your work ethics, how you care about everyone in this crazy town, the way you respect his memory at the diner, everything you do for Liz, taking Jess in, how loyal you are to your family, being there for a crazy single mom and her daughter all those years."

He turned to look at her and shrugged. "Maybe."

"I wish I knew your dad," she said. "I mean, I bet he was just as great as you. You had to learn it somewhere."

"He would have liked you," he told her.

"Really?"

"Yeah." Lorelai walked into the garage to take a closer look at the boat. She stopped short when she noticed the name.

"You didn't."

He smiled at her. "I did."

"Oh my God, Luke," she said, "You didn't have to do that."

"But I did," he clarified. "You know, this was my dad's boat. You know why he wanted to build it? For my mom. My mom loved the sea and everything about it. That's why he stopped when she died. So finishing the boat, it was like honoring both my father _and_ my mother. And you _are_ the one who forced me to finish it. This way, it has a piece of everyone who is important to me. My dad started it, for my mom, I finished it, and it's named after you… and Rory."

She shook her head, looking at him with tears in her eyes. "See? There is no way your dad could not be amazed with how you turned out."

He shrugged. "A Lorelei, with an e at the end, not an a, is a siren. Did you know that?"

She laughed softly. "I think I've heard it before."

"It's, and I quote, 'a siren of Germanic legend whose singing lures Rhine River boatmen to destruction on a reef,'" he told her. "I thought of naming it 'The Lorelei' with the e, to play on that, but you'd know it was after you. But then I decided that 'The Lorelai,' with the a, was more after you and a play on the Lorelei with the e." He frowned. "If that makes sense."

She laughed. "I get it."

"And by the way, the definition of Lorelei is perfect for you."

She let her jaw drop as if she was shocked. "Are you saying I lure boatmen to destruction?"

"You're definitely capable of it."

She laughed, then walked over to him and threw her arms around him. "I love you."

He rubbed her back slowly. "I love you too."

"Do you ever visit?" she asked, pulling away from his hug.

"What? Who?"

"Your Dad. Your Mom. Your parents."

"Oh," he realized. "Sometimes. I used to go regularly. My dad always took Liz and I after my mom died. After he died I would go once in a while, his birthday, father's day, whenever," he said. "But a lot of the time Liz would come, too. Once she had Jess and life took off for her and she was never around it was just me. After a while of doing that it wasn't too pleasant, being there alone. Especially on Mother's Day or Father's Day when a lot of other people would be around too, and you know how I feel about crowds."

She squeezed his hand. "You don't have to go alone anymore," she told him pointedly. He smiled at her and put his arm around her. "Just say the word and we'll go."

"You don't have to do that," he told her.

"I want to," she said. "For you. And I want to know them."

He smiled. "You're pretty amazing yourself, you know that?"

She shrugged. "I have to keep up with you." He laughed and kissed her on the head. "Happy Father's Day William Danes," she whispered into the garage. She gave his hand another squeeze.

"Happy Father's Day," Luke added. Lorelai smiled at him and they walked out of the garage.

"Hey, so can we take it out soon?"

He frowned. "Into the water?"

"Isn't that where you take boats?"

"As long as you promise not to lure us to destruction on a reef."

She laughed and put her arms around him, kissing beneath his ear. "Well then can I lure you upstairs to my bedroom instead?" she whispered in his ear.

He pulled back slightly to look at her. "You could give it a try."

She laughed. "Come on, I'll show you some destruction," she said, raising her eyebrows and pulling him towards the house.

He rolled his eyes knowing that she had no idea what she was talking about anymore and let her pull him inside.

Part 2 is probably going to be posted right after this, as well as part 3. But part 4 isn't finished yet, so that may take a while longer. Thanks for reading!


	2. 2006: Luke and Rory

Father's Day 

Here's the next part. Hope you're enjoying the series so far. The first part is actually my least favorite so far. I like this one and the next one a lot more. 

Disclaimer: Still don't own them, darnit.

**2006**

Rory yawned and opened her eyes, finding herself staring at her ceiling in her bedroom in Stars Hollow. It had been a long time since she'd felt this peaceful during the summer. Since she started Yale, she hadn't spent one summer at home. She had spent last summer living in her grandparents' pool house and the summer before that she had spent in Europe with her grandmother. And even the summer before that she hadn't been home much, as she and her mother had been in Europe. And the summer before _that_, she had been in Washington D.C. for a good portion of the summer. Seems like the last relaxing summer at home had been the summer after tenth grade.

She heard her mother outside her room, laughing _that _laugh, which meant that Luke must be out there, too. She turned and glanced at the clock, seeing that it was just past ten.

She almost felt bad, being home this summer. Sure, the past two summers she took off and left her mom here alone. This summer her mother and Luke were newly married and she had to be hanging around all the time. She felt like she was putting a damper on their newlywed lifestyle. They had only been married a few months, after all. She had been trying to make sure to spend a lot of time hanging out with Lane and meeting up with Logan. She had even planned a trip for a week in the summer, with Logan, and she was surprised her mother hadn't resisted her when she told her about it.

Neither her mother nor Luke seemed to show any signs of wishing she wasn't around, though, so it was probably just her thinking that way.

She got up and wandered out into the kitchen where, just as she suspected, she found her mother and Luke.

"Morning," she said with a yawn.

"Morning," they both replied.

"Hey, check it out, a world where I'm up before you," Lorelai told her with a laugh.

"Never thought I'd see the day," she agreed with a smile.

"We were just trying to decide what to do for breakfast," Lorelai informed her. "What do you feel like having?"

She shrugged. "Anything is fine with me."

"Pancakes it is then!" Lorelai said, turning to Luke with a sparkle in her eye. Luke and Rory exchanged a look and Luke turned to go make the pancakes.

"Poor Luke," Rory stated. "You should cut him some slack. Learn to cook."

Lorelai gasped. "Maybe _you_ should learn to cook. You can cook for me then, too. Give Luke a break."

"Yes, for the two months that I'm actually home all the time?"

Lorelai nodded. "That's enough of a break for Luke," she joked. "Besides, he doesn't make me breakfast when he works in the mornings. Those days it's back to scrounging for Pop-Tarts."

"No," Rory agreed with a laugh. "He just makes breakfast for the entire town on those days," she joked and Luke looked at her with a thankful expression. "And give up on the Pop-Tarts, we all know on those days you go into Luke's and just eat there."

Rory heard Luke laugh and Lorelai turned to glare at him, pretending to pout. "I'm not so sure I like this stepfather-stepdaughter bond you two have going here."

Rory laughed and patted Lorelai on the arm. "Just think about your pancakes."

It wasn't until after pancakes and hanging out with Lane for a while that Rory realized what this day was. It wasn't just any Sunday in June. It was Father's Day.

She realized she completely forgot and hadn't sent her father a card or anything. She immediately felt guilty, and picked up the phone to call him. She momentarily noticed the irony that she forgot Father's Day and she felt guilty, but he never seemed to think twice about missing things in her life. She noted that even though he had Gigi, she was only three and she didn't know anything about Father's Day yet. And there was no one else around to celebrate it for Gigi, no one to buy him gifts and sign them "From Gigi."

He wasn't in, so she left him a message and returned to the living room to hang up the phone. Glancing at the clock, she wandered back into her room, figuring she might as well use her spare time to catch up on her reading. She never had time to read for fun during the school year—her reading time was consumed by reading textbooks and books to analyze and write papers on. Opening her closet door to look for the box of books she had brought home from school and never unpacked because she knew she'd be taking them back in the fall, she pulled a box out from underneath the bottoms of her clothes. She stared at it for a minute, and then decided she knew exactly what to do. She picked up the box and headed out into the living room where Lorelai and Luke were watching something on TV. Apparently, Luke wasn't really interested in it and Lorelai thought it was fascinating. Rory could only imagine what their lives were like throughout the whole year. Sweeps months must be a killer for poor Luke.

"Hey," she said cheerfully, and both their heads spun to look at her.

"What's that?" Lorelai asked, noticing the box in Rory's arms.

"Oh," she said, setting it down on the table near Luke. "This is for Luke."

Luke looked at her and frowned. "For me?"

"Yep," she said with a smile. She pushed the box closer to him. "Here you go."

"What is it?" he asked. Lorelai sat up and peered at the box in curiosity, then gasped.

"No!" she said with a smile.

Rory smiled at her and nodded. "Yes," she said softly. Luke looked at them both, confused.

"What?"

"Just look in the box and you'll see," Rory told him. He took the box and put it on the couch next to him. He started to look through the box, taking out a few of the items inside. He looked up at Rory curiously.

"What's all this?"

"Well," she said, suddenly nervous. "When I was in elementary school we always made little projects and cards for Mother's Day and Father's Day," she explained. "Of course, I gave all the Mother's Day stuff to Mom. But Dad was never around when I came home with these things from school. So I just put them away. The plan, I guess, was to give them to him at a later time, but I don't know… just never felt right months later, I never had that feeling of excitement to give him these gifts like I did with mom, kind of forgot about them until I added something to the box the next year. So they just sat there all those years."

"And now you're…" Luke started, turning around the ceramic handprint of Rory's hands from when she was seven, "now you're giving them to me?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Wow," he said, taking the decorative magnet out of the box. It was a piece of circular wood painted blue with little objects glued to it. A child's handwriting scrawled 'Happy Father's Day' in the middle.

"Second grade," she told him. He looked up at her with an unreadable look on his face.

"Second grade," he repeated softly. "Thank you, Rory, this is…"

She smiled, letting him know he didn't have to continue. "You're welcome. It's only right these things go to you. You've been more of a father to me than anyone," she said softly.

"Oh, I don't know about—"

"You don't think I remember who brought me mashed potatoes every day for a week when I was sick? Who came to the caterpillar's funeral? Who blew up balloons and made me a coffee cake for my sixteenth birthday? Who tried to beat up Dean when he broke up with me? Who came to my high school graduation? Who helped me move into my dorm at Yale? Who reads all my articles in the paper? Who refused to let me give up when I wanted to drop out? Well, I do. You've been here through the good times and the hard times and the bad times, and that's why this is for you." He smiled at her and she headed towards him to give him a hug. "Thank you for always being there," she said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I wouldn't be anywhere else."

"I know," she said as she pulled away from the hug. "I know. Happy Father's Day!" she added before smiling at him and heading back to her room.

Luke looked at Lorelai, who smiled at him, looking as if she was about to cry herself.

"I can't believe she…"

"I can," told him. "I definitely can."

He smiled and looked at the magnet he still held in his hand.

"I have one just like it," she added.

"What?"

"That's what Rory's second grade class made for Mother's Day as well."

"Oh," he said, still examining the object.

"It was the first thing I put in the kitchen when we moved in here," she added. She watched him for a moment. "You know, when Rory was born my life changed. My life wasn't about me anymore-- it was about Rory. And I knew that there was a pretty good chance I would never find someone to share my life with that would understand the bond between Rory and I. That there was a good chance that I would never find someone who loved Rory as much as I do. Someone that Rory would love as much as I do," she added. "But I did."

He smiled at her slightly. "Well, she's an amazing kid."

"Yes, but everyone can see that. Everyone sees that she was a great student in high school and valedictorian. That she goes to Yale and that she's polite and kind to everyone. It's the people, or should I say, person, who knows about her mistakes as well and still loves her as much as I do."

He shrugged slightly. "Well, she's… Rory."

Lorelai smiled. "And what means the most to me, and I'm pretty sure her, is that you love her because you wanted to, not because you thought you had to. You didn't go to her graduation or make her mashed potatoes or try to beat up Dean because you were her stepfather and you thought you had to. You did it before you were her stepfather, before we were together, because you wanted to. You totally deserve that box." She watched him for a moment. "Hey, let's go find a place for that magnet," she said, "I think it would go nicely next to mine. A match set." She smiled and spoke more softly. "I always wanted a match set," she added, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the kitchen.

**This is the one that was inspired by "Those Are The Strings, Pinocchio." I love the "this building is amazing—and so are you" hug between Luke and Rory. That and the scene at the end of "No Help Wanted" always make me want to write something like this.**


	3. 2007: Luke and Lorelai

Father's Day 

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

**2007**

It was a Sunday morning, and for once Luke didn't have to work. He seemed to be working the weekends most of the time these days, as Lane's band had really taken off and they needed the weekends for their band gigs. But today Caesar was opening and Luke was thankful for the day off.

However, sleeping in was apparently not an option. Lorelai was out of bed at 7:00, and Luke frowned, wondering what on Earth would cause her to get up on a Sunday before double digits hit. She made some noise moving about the room, and then she was gone. He allowed himself to drift off to sleep again, but he was woken up again by Lorelai around 8:30. She was rummaging through their closet and drawers, apparently getting dressed.

"What are you doing?" he mumbled.

"Getting dressed," she said in a whisper as if she hadn't realized she'd already woken up the person she was whispering to avoid waking. "Go back to sleep, sorry."

"Why are you up so early on a Sunday anyway?" he asked.

"I couldn't sleep," she said. "Sorry. Go back to sleep, please. I'll leave the room as soon as I get dressed, promise."

He mumbled something and rolled back over and buried his face into the pillows. A moment later he heard Lorelai tiptoe out of the room.

She came back a half hour later. This time, however, she seemed to have an actual intention to wake him up. She settled on the bed next to him and nudged his shoulder.

"Luuuke," she said in a whisper. "Wake up."

"Now what?" he mumbled, turning over to glance in her direction.

"Time to get up," she said. "Do you know what today is?"

"Sunday?"

"Yes. Do you know _what_ Sunday it is?"

He thought for a moment. "June 21st?" he asked, not following her train of thought, apparently.

"_Yes_," she added, "do you know what Sunday, June 21st is, though?"

"Lorelai," he mumbled. "What are you getting at?"

"You should go out more often," she said. "Don't you see posters advertising this greeting card holiday?"

"What greeting card holiday?"

"The one on Sunday, June 21st!"

"Lorelai," he groaned.

"I'll give you a hint. It ends in 'day' the holiday is something 'day.'"

"Is this a crossword puzzle now?"

"Luke!" she whined. "You're ruining my plan. I know you know what today is if you'd just think!" He sighed and tried to figure out what she was talking about. "It's the opposite of a holiday we just had in May that also ended in something 'day' and I celebrated with Rory, and unfortunately, my mother."

"Father's Day?" he asked. "Is it? I don't know these things."

"Yes! Finally," she said with playful annoyance.

"That's it? You wanted me to guess it's Father's Day? God, Lorelai, if we went through all that just so you could tell me that you're going to call your dad or something then…"

"No, you big grump," she said with a smile, scooting closer to him, "that's not why."

"Then why?"

"Because I wanted to celebrate it."

"Father's Day?"

"Yes."

"You're not a father."

She gasped. "What? Now you tell me."

"Why are we celebrating it?"

"We're celebrating it for you."

"I'm not a father either."

"Oh _really_?"

"Yes, really," he said.

"I think you are."

"I'm not really Rory's father," he reminded her.

"I know you're not."

"Thus proving my point that I'm not a father."

"Still, I beg to differ," she told him, her eyes looking into his. He froze, and she knew that suddenly he got it.

"Are you saying that—"

She grinned at him and nodded. "That yes, you're still a father? That's exactly what I'm saying."

"Words, Lorelai, the words."

She giggled at his impatience. "You're going to be a Daddy," she whispered. "I'm pregnant. We're having a baby. Those words work for you?"

He blinked, staring at her intently for a moment. She raised her eyebrows in amusement.

"Seriously?" he asked.

She nodded. "Seriously," she replied. "You can officially celebrate Father's Day from here on out."

He stared at her for a few more seconds before pulling her down to him and kissing her. She responded to the kiss by kissing him back deeply. When they broke apart, she giggled.

"I see you remember how exactly you became a father."

He couldn't help but grin, even though normally he would roll his eyes at the comment.

"This is amazing," he told her.

"I know," she said softly.

"This is… wow."

She laughed. "I know."

"How far along?"

"Just about six weeks," she said, shifting to lean against the headboard. "I found out last week, but I wanted to wait until today to tell you."

"You've known all week?" he asked in surprise.

"Yep. I hope you aren't mad I waited to tell you…"

"Of course not," he said. "I'm just surprised you could keep it in. Does Rory know?"

She shook her head. "Nope, I wanted to tell you first. And I _totally_ thought you'd figure it out when I suddenly stopped drinking the coffee."

His mouth dropped open. "I didn't even notice," he realized.

"I know," she said with a laugh. "All those years of 'Stop with the coffee, coffee is so bad for you, coffee is going to kill you one of these days' and then I drop it cold turkey and you don't even notice. I'm very surprised in your—" she was cut off by his lips taking over her own again.

"I love you," he told her with a smile.

"I love you too," she replied with a matching grin. She noticed his eyes drop to her stomach. "Hard to believe, isn't it?" she asked.

"What?"

"That our child is in there, growing, right now."

He nodded. "Yeah," he said, letting his hand brush across her stomach. "It's hard to believe but it's also really…"

"I know it," she agreed before he even finished his thought. "It's funny. I mean, physically, to the outside world, there's nothing different. To me the morning sickness is a difference, but to everyone else they can't tell. They have no idea. Nothing's changed. There's no physical evidence of the baby yet, but that little life is in there and I already love him or her so much that it seems like something should have changed. But nothing has yet."

He nodded. "Oddly enough I followed that."

She laughed softly. "It's so different this time. When I found out about Rory I was horrified. I mean you know I love her, but at the time she was the last thing I wanted at sixteen. I was shocked and horrified and scared and nervous and confused about what to do. But this time it's just amazing. I was excited and happy and everything is just perfect."

He nodded again. "It is. Perfect," he agreed.

She smiled and let herself get lost in her thoughts for a few seconds. "So I don't think we want to tell anyone else right away?" she asked. "I mean, you know how news travels around here, and in case anything happens…"

"Right," he said. "But nothing is going to happen."

She smiled. "I know, but still. I think it's best to wait awhile before telling anyone."

He nodded. "You could tell Rory though," he offered. "I think she can be trusted with the secret. And I know it's probably killing you to not tell her."

She smiled. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, tell her."

"Maybe in a couple weeks," she said thoughtfully.

He frowned. "Why not now?"

She shrugged and smiled at him. "I kind of like no one else knowing but you and me. It's our little secret, and hey, we're the ones that made this kid so I think we're entitled to a little secret."

He laughed and took her hand, playing with it absentmindedly. "God, Lorelai, I just—I don't know what to do. I want to, I don't know, run around the block, jump up and down, do something."

She laughed at this, then looked at him. "Doesn't seem like you."

"I know, but my God, right now I'm just," he grinned, "I don't think I can keep the excitement in."

"Well if you _really_ feel the need to do something to release some energy, _I_ have an idea," she said, grinning at him.

He frowned. "What about the baby?"

"The baby's fine," she told him, leaning down to kiss him.

"But—"

"The baby's fine," she repeated. "If you think I'm going eight and a half more months without sex, you're crazy. The baby is fine."

"Are you sure?"

She sighed and moved to reach something from the floor beside the bed. Pulling a small gift bag up onto the bed, she handed it to him.

"Here."

"What's this?"

"Your Father's Day gift," she said. "Somehow I knew you'd have issues with this and so I got you something that would put your fears about this, and many other things, to rest."

He reached into the bag and pulled out a book. "'What To Expect When She's Expecting'" he read the title of the book.

"It's for Daddies to Be," she explained. "Everything you ever wanted to know about what's going to happen to me along with some things you probably didn't want to know."

He frowned as he flipped through the book. "And some illustrations of the things I probably didn't want to know, too."

She chuckled. "Anyway, if you check the bookmark," she said, and he noticed for the first time that there was a bookmark in the book, "you should find some information on what I'm _trying_ to get you to do here," she added, kissing him again.

He opened the book to the bookmark. "Why did you bookmark this page?"

"Well, I knew what I was going to tell you and I knew what I would want to do to _celebrate_ what I was going to tell you and I knew you'd worry about it. So it only made sense," she explained, running her hands through his hair as he looked at the book. He read it for a moment.

"Huh," he said.

"What?" she asked, kissing her way up his neck.

"Interesting effects of the hormones during the fourth month."

She laughed. "You just wait." He smiled and closed the book.

"Hey," he said, stopping her for a moment.

"What?" she asked softly.

"I'm really, really happy about this."

She smiled at him happily. "Me too. Happy Father's Day," she said with a grin. She was just about to kiss him again when the phone rang. "Don't get it," she told him.

"It might be important," he reasoned. "We both own businesses after all."

She sighed. "Fine, but this type of behavior is not going to cut it during the fourth month."

He smirked and grabbed the phone. "Hello?" he listened for a moment. "Oh, hey Rory." He listened again and Lorelai knew that she was calling to wish him a Happy Father's Day. He laughed at something Rory said, then smiled. "Yeah," he told her, "the day's off to a pretty good start."

**FYI—I posted the first three parts all at once. There's one more (for now) and it's not done yet. So the story isn't complete, in case you're wondering. ;) **


	4. 2014: Luke, William and Ava

**Father's Day**

_Finally got the fourth part up! This one was harder because it's really, really hard to write Luke as a father with nothing to go off of, lol. I hope it works and seems believable. And after this I must go back to writing papers for school. There's some writing I don't enjoy. ;) Oh, btw, I meant to say in part 1, I know I changed a little bit about Luke's dad and the boat. In 5.10 he says that it hasn't been touched since his dad died, but I wanted it to be for his mom, so I changed that a little. ;)_

**Disclaimer**: Still not mine, would you have guessed?

**2014**

Lorelai sighed and looked at the mess in the kitchen.

There was a reason she always let Luke cook. And apparently their children should learn about this reason, too. Especially because she probably cooked just about as well as the four and six year-olds and she had no clue how to fix the messes they had prepared.

"Mommy, more eggs!" four year-old Ava instructed.

"Okay, whoa, how many eggs have you guys already put into the batter?"

Ava shrugged and six year-old William answered for her. "Six?"

"I think that's more than enough."

Ava frowned at the bowl in front of her and then shrugged again, going back to stirring it.

Oh man. She'd really gotten herself into a mess-- literally-- this time.

"What do we do now?" William asked with confusion.

"I think we make the pancakes," Lorelai told them.

"How?" William asked.

Lorelai laughed. "You've really got the wrong parent helping you out, here, kids."

"But we can't tell Daddy!" Ava said in a whisper.

"I know, I know," Lorelai said. "Hand me the bowl, I'll attempt to make the pancakes. But I refuse to take any responsibility if they come out tasting funny."

William and Ava followed her over to the stove where she attempted to turn the batter into pancakes. Finding out that she wasn't completely helpless when it came to cooking, she managed to make the pancakes without burning them. However, she was seriously afraid for how the batter had been prepared. Six eggs seemed like a little much, not to mention how carelessly they had measured the flour.

Oh well. That was the point of Father's Day, wasn't it? To have inedible food prepared for you by your children? She remembered the Mother's Days that Rory had prepared some seriously funny looking food for her. However, her Mother's Days with Luke around she had always gotten some amazing breakfasts. She'd have to make it up to Luke later. She smiled to herself, thinking of just _how_ she could do that.

"Can we wake Daddy up?" William asked. "He's still asleep!"

Lorelai nodded. "Uh, sure. I think the pancakes are done. Why don't you go upstairs and give him the things you made for him and tell him how much you love him, then come down here and he can eat his delicious breakfast," she told them, her mind already trying to figure out how she could get Luke out of eating the food but not letting the kids know, "and then later Rory will come over and we'll all go out to lunch."

"Rory's coming?" William asked happily.

Ava clapped her hands in excitement. "Yay, Rory!"

"Yep, Rory's coming," Lorelai told them, piling the pancakes onto a plate. _Note to self_, she thought, _from now on go to _breakfast_ with Rory, then Luke won't get stuck with food that isn't edible._

"Daddy doesn't let us wake you up on Mother's Day," William stated.

"Well, that's because Daddy's smart. Mommy, not so much."

"I made him pictures," Ava said, scurrying over to the kitchen table and holding up a pile of paper.

"He'll love them," Lorelai told her, taking the plate with pancakes to the table and placing them in the center, then dropping a kiss on Ava's head.

"Let's go wake him up!" William said impatiently, grabbing the gift his class had made and wrapped in homemade paper they also made in class. Lorelai ran a hand through his hair and placed a kiss on his head as well.

"Go for it," she told them, and they immediately grabbed their gifts and scurried up the stairs to their parents' bedroom.

xxxxxxxxxx

She followed them upstairs and watched as William and Ava looked at each other, suddenly unsure about going into the bedroom and waking Luke up. They finally worked up their courage and bounded through the door and jumped on the bed.

Lorelai never thought that there would be a world in which Luke was the last one asleep in their household. William and Ava had apparently both taken his early riser quality. Normally, Luke would be up with them in the mornings as Lorelai was most definitely not the early riser they all were, but whenever he had a morning off on a weekend she would make sure to get up and take care of the kids so he could sleep a little later, which he would subconsciously take advantage of even though he would never admit it.

She winced as Ava landed right on him and William bounced around on the bed. His eyes popped open and she could tell that he knew she was behind encouraging them to do this, even being awake only for mere seconds. She bit her lip to keep from laughing and leaned against the doorway to watch the scene.

"Happy Father's Day!" William said, still bouncing around on the bed. "I got you something!" he added, waving the package at Luke.

"Me too, me too!" Ava exclaimed, holding out her pile of pictures she had drawn and forcing Luke to take them. Luke rubbed his eyes and then took the pictures from Ava, examining each of the three closely.

"You drew these?"

She nodded shyly. "Yeah."

"They're beautiful," Luke told her, and she looked down, blushing. He brushed a strand of dark hair out of her face—the Lorelai and Rory hair, he noted, Ava was going to look just like them—and kissed her on the forehead. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said quietly and she grinned and fell back on the bed, nestling herself next to Luke, letting her head rest on the abandoned pillow that belonged to Lorelai.

Next, Luke took the package from William and carefully unwrapped it, trying not to ruin the homemade wrapping paper. Inside was a picture frame painted purple and green, macaroni painted colors glued along the edges. Inside the frame was a picture of William on the school playground.

"We made it at school," he told Luke proudly. "Our teacher took the pictures and we made the frames!"

Luke smiled. "It's wonderful. It's a work of art."

William grinned. "Really?"

"Really," Luke told his son who happily shifted his position on the bed so that he could gaze at the picture frame himself. "Thank you. I love it."

William smiled again. "You're welcome. I love you Daddy."

"I love you too," Luke told him, kissing him on the head. "And I love you too," he told Ava, who smiled happily and rested her head on Luke's chest. A moment later a door slammed downstairs and William and Ava jumped up.

"Rory?" William asked no one in particular, looking for confirmation.

"Hello?" Rory's voice called. William and Ava sprung into action, jumping off the bed and running towards the door to go greet their older sister.

"Rory's here," William told Lorelai as he passed by her.

"I know, I hear," Lorelai said with a laugh, "tell her I'll be down in a minute," she told him, running a hand through his hair as he passed by. "And be careful on the stairs!" she called after them both.

She heard William and Ava happily greet Rory and could hear Rory talking to them as she stepped into the bedroom, looking at Luke.

He looked back at her. "You're going to pay for that."

"For what?" she asked innocently.

"The bruise I'm going to have on my stomach from Ava jumping on top of me."

Lorelai laughed. "Sorry. Next time I'll tell them to be gentle."

He rolled his eyes. "Just wait for Mother's Day. I'm sure they'd love to repeat the performance with you."

She laughed and settled down on the bed next to him. "I'll make it up to you," she told him softly, leaning down to drop kisses on his jaw. "I promise," she added with a glint in her eye.

He rolled his eyes and pulled her down to him. "I love you too, you know," he said.

"Hey, Father's Day here, _I'm_ supposed to tell_ you_ that I love _you_."

"Well, I wouldn't even be a father without you, so I'm allowed to tell you."

She grinned. "Works for me," she told him. "Especially after all that work _I_ did so that _you_ could become a father. Twice."

He laughed and shook his head. "I appreciate it."

"You better," she joked. "You know I've spent twenty-seven months out of my life pregnant? That's over two complete years."

"DADDY!" Ava's voice called. "YOU HAVE TO COME HAVE BREAKFAST!"

Luke looked at Lorelai.

"Don't eat it," she told him with a laugh.

"Do I have a choice? How do I get out of it?"

She laughed. "I don't know. I'll distract them and you pretend you ate the pancakes."

"They can't be that bad."

"Think about it, Luke. _They_ made the batter and _I_ was the one helping them."

He winced. "Maybe you're right."

"I'll make that up to you later, too," she told him with a wink.

"I'll be looking forward to it."

She giggled. "You better be." She kissed him quickly. "I better go down there and see what they're doing to Rory. Happy Father's Day," she added before slipping out of the room.

Lorelai went downstairs and kissed Rory on the cheek. "Hey there."

She smiled. "Hey. Edible pancakes on the table," she added in a whisper.

Lorelai frowned. "What?"

Rory chuckled. "William told me last night on the phone that they were going to make pancakes today for Luke and that you were helping. So today I stopped by the diner on the way here and picked up some Caesar pancakes. Though not as fluffy as Luke's, they _are_ edible. I switched them before the kids came down."

"You're a lifesaver, Babe," Lorelai said, kissing Rory on the head.

"Oh, I know," she teased.

After a breakfast that didn't kill Luke (and Lorelai, Rory, William and Ava also joined in eating since the pancakes were so good-- William and Ava were proud of themselves, having no clue they hadn't really made the pancakes), lunch later that day with all of them where Ava spilled her milk--twice, and a night of William and Ava entertaining Rory with various games they had invented, Father's Day came to an end as Rory headed home.

She gave Luke a hug and a kiss on the cheek before leaving. "Happy Father's Day," she told him. Ever since the year she had given him the box of her childhood Father's Day gifts, she had made a point of celebrating with him, even if it was only a phone call, especially after William and Ava had arrived and Father's Day was a big deal to them. She, of course, also celebrated with her father as well, but normally just sent him a card and gave him a phone call on the morning of Father's Day. Sometimes she felt a little guilty that that was all she did with him and she came over for Father's Day with Luke, but she shrugged it off. Her father was further away, her father had Gigi. She usually made plans to go see him sometime around Father's Day, but she never made it on the actual day.

Lorelai went upstairs to take a shower while Luke got William and Ava ready for bed. William had gone to his room to change into his pajamas while Luke helped Ava get ready for bed. William appeared in the doorway of Ava's room in his pajamas and rubbing his eyes.

"What's up?" Luke asked him.

"Nothing," he said.

"Daddy," Ava said, "tell me a story."

"A story?" Luke frowned.

"Yeah. Mommy tells us stories all the time," William added, coming into the room and settling on Ava's bed.

"Well, Mommy has quite an imagination in that head of hers, her stories are most likely better than anything I'll tell you."

"She told us about your wedding," William told him.

"Oh. Real stories," Luke realized, pulling the blankets down on Ava's bed so that she could settle under them. He pulled them over her and she settled down under the blankets, glancing at William who was sitting at the end of her bed.

"And she told us about your first date."

Luke frowned at this. "Which was?"

William laughed. "You should know."

"Dancing," Ava told him.

"Oh." He frowned again. "Yeah, I guess that was our first date."

"Why did you marry Mommy?" Ava added.

"Why did I... well, that's a tricky one."

"Yeah, why did you?" William asked.

"Because I love her."

"But you love us, too," William pointed out.

"Yes, but that's different. I'm your father."

"You love Rory," he added.

"I'm her stepfather."

"So why do you love Mommy?" Ava changed her question.

"Because."

"Because?" Ava asked with a frown.

"I can't explain it," Luke told them. He thought about it for a minute, then began to speak again. "When I was little, my mother used to tell me how much she loved my father," he told them, "and that I would never understand it until I experienced it one day myself. I think the same thing goes for both of you."

"Well I'm not getting married, ever!" William said, making a face of disgust.

Luke laughed. "Sure, okay. Whatever you want."

"Girls are weird," he added.

"Hey!" Ava said with a pout, reaching behind her to grab a pillow.

"Cut it out," Luke said, stopping Ava from throwing her pillow at William.

"But why do you love her?" Ava insisted, putting the pillow down.

"You really want an answer to this question, don't you?" he asked with a chuckle. Ava nodded and he sighed. "I just do. I love her because she's got this special personality… this little spark, because she's caring, because she's a great mother, because she's smart and amazing and determined and has been extremely successful with her life even though it hasn't been easy. She can do anything she puts her mind to. Everyone could learn a thing or two from her. And she's just... amazing."

"You already said that," William told him with a giggle.

"Well," he said, "she is. Just like both of you, okay?" he kissed Ava on the head and got up off her bed, then kissed William on the head as well. "Happy now?"

Ava nodded sleepily and rolled over onto her side and William nodded in agreement. He hopped off Ava's bed and headed to the door. "Night Daddy," he told Luke, heading out the door. "Night Mommy!" he added. Luke spun around and saw Lorelai standing in the doorway.

"Night Babe," she told William, stopping him to kiss him on the head. She came into Ava's room and kissed her as well and told her goodnight before turning off her light.

"How long were you standing there?" Luke asked, following her out of the room.

"Long enough," she said with a smirk.

"How long is 'long enough,' exactly?"

She laughed. "Give it up, I heard everything you said."

"Great," he mumbled. She chuckled.

"Oh, it's not that bad, I kinda had an idea that you feel that way about me."

"Well, still." She stopped him and smiled.

"So, Father's Day. You know you're an amazing father."

He shrugged. "Well, it's not hard to do with two great kids and an amazing stepdaughter."

"Well, they all adore you. You're their hero."

He scoffed. "Am not."

"Are too," she said. "And you're my hero too, you know."

"_That_ I figured," he joked. She laughed and put her arms around his neck.

"Hey, so after all that talk about me in there, I think I _definitely_ have to make up those things I was supposed to make up to you from this morning as _well_ as thank you for your kind words."

He rolled his eyes. "You really are something, you know that?"

She laughed. "I've heard."

"Come on," she said, pulling him towards their bedroom with her arms still looped around his neck. "Let me show you just how amazing I _am_," she teased.

"I'm pretty sure I already know," he said softly. She grinned at him.

"Thank you for being an amazing father," she said. "Happy Father's Day."

"Well, then, thank you for the kids I'm a father to."

"No problem."

"That's not what you were saying when you were in labor."

She laughed. "My amazingness," she reminded him, tugging him to the bedroom. "Let's go."

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**The End**

Okay, so verdicts on that? lol. It's so hard to write Luke as a father, ahh. I think this series is done, unless I suddenly get hit one day with a great idea for another Luke Father's Day. :)

And I know, I know, William is hardly an original name for L/L's son, huh? lol. But I went original with Ava! Just picked it at random. I'm so used to reading their son as William that it's hard to use anything else now, haha.


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